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Main Street America | Things I Love

And I must admit that I’m just as enamoured by Main Street America. There’s a simplicity and comfort in having one designated spot where shopfronts are all lined up, ready to serve the people of their town. Sadly, so many Main Streets that have thrived in the past are now crumbling and becoming forgotten in favor of malls and big box stores – the aisles of Target just aren’t the same to me as this friendly little Main Street made up of local peoples’ dream shops.

Main Streets are the next ghost towns, I’m afraid. This downtown in Laconia, New Hampshire still has a cobbler, two barbers, a bakery, a variety shop, a shoe store, several antique stores, a record store, a deli, and a soda shoppe. Sadly, the theatre has fallen into disrepair and its fate is in question. It’ll probably be the first to go.

I was 9 years old when my brother left to spend several years in Africa. Before he departed he took me to the Colonial to see Toy Story. I remember falling in love with the red velvet curtains, the balcony, and the classic ropes that separated lines at the ticket booth. This place was everything I could have dreamed of – now I’m sad for it.

I suppose nostalgia doesn’t really have a purpose, and I’m just hanging on to things of the past because I’m wishing for a simpler time. Still, I felt compelled to share this little Main Street, and hope that you appreciate yours {if it isn’t yet obsolete}. Supporting local business means you’re directly supporting your community and keeping the dollars you spend amongst your friends and neighbors. I love to do everything I can to frequent independent shops near me because local business is the livelihood of every community.

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8 thoughts on “Main Street America | Things I Love”

Oh I am SOOO with you on this!! I couldn’t agree more about the feeling an old main street gives! Especially the old cinemas. Additionally, I also agree 100% about supporting local businesses. It’s one of my soap boxes that I go on and on about. Love this post!

Talk to your town selectmen or higher-ups! It’ll benefit the whole community to have a place where people can meet and support one another. Also, they could bill it as a tourist attraction if it were nice enough and bring in some revenue that way! The historical society is a great place to go, too, since they’ll appreciate it for what it once was 🙂

When I did my road trip around the USA last year, I traveled through 22 states. Unfortunately, you’re right, most main streets are being abandoned in favor of the box store ‘strip’ on the edge of town. It was our mission to support local business, so we ate, shopped and visited as many local ‘main street’ stores as possible, in every small town we could stop in. It’s one thing I’m nostalgic for as am Australian, is the good old American ‘main street’ I love, love, love it and I hope maybe the current generation rejecting mass consumer culture to an extent can turn this trend around and bring life back to the Main St USA.

Oh I just wrote a nice long comment about this and wordpress went silly and deleted it 😦

It sort of went like this:
Last year when my fiance and I traveled through the USA, we visited 22 states, and it was very apparent that the Main St is dying (and dead in some places) It was our mission to support local business as much as possible, so we stayed in B+Bs, ate at local cafes and restaurants and avoided the strips of box stores on the outskirts of every large town like the plague. It was really sad to see and I hope against hope that the current generation will rebel against the mass-consumption model enough to keep local business going and preserve the Main Streets for the future.